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SOUTH CAItOLINA 



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FROM THE PRESH OF JAMES LUCAS & SOX, BALTIMORE. 



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THE MISSION 



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TO VIRGINIA. 



THE MISSION OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

TO VIRGINIA. 



\_Fr<jm De Bow's Revieiv, Decemhcr, I860.] 

[This is a fitting occasion to present to our readers a paper which has 
been upon our table for several months, embodying the argument made by 
South Carolina, through her eminent citizen, the Hon. C. G. Memminger, 
at the bar of the Legislature of Virginia, touching the great subject of 
Southern wrongs, and the proper remedy for them. The argument is 
powerful, and leaves little to be said in justification of any course the 
common perils of the South may urge upon her. We desire to preserve 
it in the "Review."- — Ed. Eev.] 

Referring to the resolutions of the Legislature of South Carolina, under 
which he acted, Mr. Memminger said, "They direct me- — 

"1. To express to the authorities of Virginia the cordial sympathy of the people of 
South Carolina with the people of Virginia, in the trial through which they have lately 
passed. 

"2. To express our earnest desire to unite with you in measures of common defence. 

"3. To request a conference of the slaveholding States, and the appointment of dep- 
uties or commissioners to the same on the part of Virginia." 

harper's ferry outrage. 
The expression of our sympathy is most grateful to our own feelings. 
While, in common with the rest of the Union, we feel our obligation for the 
large contribution of mind and effort which Virginia has made to the com- 
mon cause, we of South Carolina are more largely indebted to her for man- 
ifestations of particular concern in our welfare, which I shall presently 
notice. We had supposed that her large contributions to the Union had 
secured to her the respect and affection of every State of this Confederacy. 
Certainly there is no State to whom more kindly feelings are due. Her 
statesmen and soldiers had devoted their lives to the service of the country, 
and their honored remains now hallow her soil. There was the tomb of 



the Father of his Country. There lay the ashes of Patrick Henry and of 
Jefferson, and of Madison, and of a host of others, whose names had given 
lustre to our country's glory, and the fruit of whose labors was the common 
inheritance of North and South ; and yet all this could not preserve her 
from the invasion of her soil, the murder of her citizens, and the attempt 
to involve her in the horrors of servile and civil war. That very North, 
to whom she had surrendered a territorial empire — who had grown great 
through her generous confidence — sent forth the assassins, furnished them 
with arms and money, and would fain rescue them from the infamy and 
punishment due to crimes so atrocious. 

To estimate aright the character of the outrage at Harper's Ferry, we 
must realize the intentions of those who planned it. They expected the 
slaves to rise in mass as soon as the banner of abolitionism should be un- 
furled. Knowing nothing of the kindly feeling which exists throughout 
the South between the master and his slaves, they judged of that feeling 
by their own hatred, and expected that the tocsin which they sounded would 
at once arouse to rebellion every slave who heard it. Accordingly they 
prepared such arms as an infuriated and untrained pea.santry could most 
readily use. 

They also expected aid from another element of revolution. They did 
not believe in the loyalty to the government of Virginia of that part of 
her population which owned no slaves. They seized upon the armory, 
and they expected help from its operatives, and from the farming popula- 
tion ; and to gain time for combining all these elements of mischief, as 
they conceived them to be, they seized upon a pass in the mountains, well 
adapted to their purpose. For months had they worked with fiendish and 
unweared diligence, and it is hazarding little to conjecture, that the ban- 
ditti who had been trained in Kansas, were in readiness to obey the sum- 
mons to new scenes of rapine and murder, as soon as a lodgment were 
effected. 

Is it at all surprising that a peaceful village, where no sound of war had 
been heard for half a century, should be overcome for the moment, at 
midnight, by so unexpected an inroad V The confusion which ensued was 
a necessity ; and it can only be inscribed to the superintendence of a kind 
Providence, that so few innocent lives were sacrificed. It is indeed won- 
derful that none of the hostages seized by these banditti should have suf- 
fered from the attacks which their friends were obliged to make, and that 
at so early a period the inhabitants recovered from their amazement and 



reduced their assailants to the five who were entrenched within the brick 
walls of the engine-house. 

The ftiilure to accomplish their purpose cannot lessen its atrocity; 
neither can their erroneous calculations as to the loyalty of the citizens to 
the State, or of the slaves to their masters, lessen the crime of these mur- 
derers, and they have justly paid the forfeit of their lives. But such a 
forfeit cannot expiate the blood of peaceful citizens, nor restore the feel- 
ing of tranquil security to the families which they have disturbed. The 
outraged soil of Virginia stands a witness of the wrong, and the unquiet 
homes which remain agitated along her borders, still call for protection ; 
and as an affectionate mother, the State feels for her children, and is pro- 
viding for that protection. The people of South Carolina cordially sym- 
pathize in all these feelings. They regard this outrage as perpetrated on 
themselves. The blow that has struck you, was aimed equally at them, 
and they would gladly share in all its consequences, and, most of all, in 
the effort to prevent its recurrence in the future. 

In this desire, they are influenced not only by a sense of common dan- 
ger, but by the remembrance of former kindness, exhibited toward South 
Carolina by the State of Virginia, in a day of trial. 

Virginia's sympathy with south Carolina in her nullification 

struggles. 

In the year 1833, when South Carolina had nullified an unconstitutional 
tariff", imposed by the federal government, and was taking measures to 
maintain her position at every hazard, the State of Virginia, actuated by 
the kindliest and most honorable feelings, adopted the following resolutions : 

'■Resolved, By the General Assembly, in the name and on Ijehalf of the people of 
Virginia, that the competent authorities of South Carolina l)e and they are hereby ear- 
nestlv and respectfully requested and entreated to rescind the ordinance of the late 
convention of that State, entitled 'An Ordinance to nullify certain acts of the Congress 
of the United States, purporting to be laws, laying duties and imposts on the impor- 
tation of foreign commodities;' or, at least, to suspend its operation until the close of 
the first session of the next Congress. 

"Resolved, That the Congress of the United States be and they are hereby earnestly 
and respectfully requested and entreated so to modify the acts laying duties and imposts 
on the importation of foreign commodities, commonly called the tariff acts, as to effect 
a'^gradual but speedy reduction of the resulting revenue of the general government, to 
the standard of the necessary and proper expenditures for the support thereof. 

•'Resolved, That this House will, by a joint vote with the Senate, proceed, on this 
day, to elect a Commissioner, whose duty it shall be to proceed immediately to South 
Carolina, and communicate the foregoing preamble and resolutions to the Governor of 
that State, with a recjuest that they be communicated to the Legislature of that State, 
or any convention of its citizens, or give them such other direction as in his judgment 
may he best calculated to promote the oljjects which this Commonwealth has in view ; 
and that the said Commissioner be authorized to express to the public authorities and 
people of our sister State, in such manner as he may deem most expedient, our sincere 



6 

good will to our sister State, aud our auxious solicitude that the kind and respectt'ui 
recommendations we have addressed her, may lead to an accommodation of all the 
differences between that tState and the general government." 

Mr. Leigh repaired to South Carolina, and on presenting his creden- 
tials, was informed by the governor that the ordinary authorities of the 
government had no jurisdiction of the subject of his mission, inasmuch 
as the ordinance of nullification had been passed by a convention of the 
people. The following extracts from the correspondence will exhibit what 
took place : 

Extract from a letter of Hun. B. ir. Leifjh, Corninissioner of Yirr/iiiia, to his Excellency 
Robert Y. Jlat/ne, Governor of South Carolina. 

"Charleston, Februarij tdh, 1833. 
"I have now, therefore, to requestyour Excellency to communicate the resolutions of 
the General Assembly of Virginia, and this letter also, to the President of the Conven- 
tion, confidently hoi)ing that that officer will not refuse or hesitate to re-assemb'e the 
convention, in order that the resolutions of the General Assembly niav be submitted 
to it, and that the Convention may consider whether, and how far, the earnest and 
respectful recjuest and entreaty of the General Assembly shall and ought to be com- 
plied with." 

Extract from a letter of James Hamilton, Jr., to his Excelli-nnj Robert Y. Hayne, Gor- 
ernor of South Carolina. 

'"Charleston, February 6th, 1833. 

•'In reply to the reference which you have made to me, as President of the Conven- 
tion of the people of South Carolina, consequent on the ai)plication on the part of that 
gentleman for the meeting of that body, I beg leave to communicate to him, through 
your Excellency, that appreciating very highly the kind disposition and the patriotic 
solicitude which have induced the highly respectable commonwealth which he repre- 
sents to interpose her friendly and mediatorial offices in the unhaj)py controversy sub- 
sisting between the federal government and the State of South Carolina, I should do 
great injustice to those dispositions on her part, and, I am quite sure, to the feelings of 
the people of South Carolina, if I did not i romptly comply with his wishes in reference 
to the proposed call." 

In compliance with Mr. Leigh's request, the Convention was re-assem- 
bled. The mediation and request of Virginia was communicated. Her 
interference with the federal government, the other party to the controversy, 
had led to a modification of the tariff, and the result with South Carolina 
was a repeal of the ordinance of nullification, and the adoption by the 
Convention of the following resolutions : 

'^Resolved, unanimously. That the President of this Convention do communicate to 
the Governor of Virginia, with a copy of this report and these resolutions, our distin- 
guished sense of the patriotic and friendly motives which actuated her General Assembly 
in tendering her mediation in the late controversy between the general government and 
the State of South Carolina, with the assurance that her friendly counsels will at all times 
commaiul our respectful consideration. 

^^ Resolved, unanimously, That the President of this Convention likewise convey to 
the Governor of Virginia our high appreciation of the able and conciliatory manner 
in which Mr. Leigh has conducted his mission, during which he afforded the most grat- 
ifying satisfaction to all parties, in sustaining toward us the kind and fraternal relations 
of his own State." 



The other incident in the relations of the two States, to which I would 
ask your attention, occurred in 1851. Four years before, both States 
passed resolutions that they would not submit to the Wilmot Proviso. In 
1849 Virginia had added to her declaration of 1847, that she would also 
resist the abolition of the slave trade in the District of Columbia. South 
Carolina concurred entirely in the sentiments of Virginia, and prepared 
to defend the position which had been taken, and which she supposed was 
the common position of the whole South. 

The compromise measures adopted by Congress in 1850, so far from being 
satisfactory, in her judgment aggravated the injury. She regarded the ad- 
mission of California, with a constitution prohibiting slavery, as in eflect an 
enactment of the Wilmot Proviso ; and the slave trade in the District of 
Columbia had been expressly prohibited by one of the compromise acts 
of Congress. With these views South Carolina proceeded to arm her 
people, and made the requisite arrangements for calling a convention to 
secede from the Union, or to adopt such other measures as the safety and 
welfare of the State might require. 

VIRGINIA RKGARDS THE COMPROMISE MEASURES OF 1851 AS A FINAL SET- 
TLEMENT. 

In December, 1851, the Legislature of Virginia adopted the following 
resolutions : 

" Whereas, The Legislature of the State of South Carolina has passed an act to pro- 
vide for the appointment of delegates to the Southern Congress, 'to be intrusted with 
full power and authority to deliberate with the view and intention of arresting further 
aggression, and, if possible, of restoring the constitutional rights of the South, and, 
if not, to recommend due provision for their future safety and independence,' which 
act has been formally communicated to this General Assembly. 

"1. Be it, therefore, Resolved, by the General Assembly of Virginia, that while this 
State deeply sympathizes with South Carolina in the feelings excited by the unwarranta- 
ble interference of certain of the non-slaveholding States with our common institutions ; 
and while diversity of opinion exists among the people of this Commonwealth in regard 
to the wisdom, justice, and constitutionality of the measures of the late Congress of the 
United States, taken as a whole, and commonly known as the compromise measures, 
yet the Legislature of Virginia deems it a duty to declare to her sister State of South 
Carolina, that the people of this State are unwilling to take anv action in consequence 
of the same, calculated to destroy the integrity of this Union. " 

"2. Resolved, That, regarding the said acts of the Congress of the United States 
taken together, as an adjustment of the exciting questions to which they relate, and 
cherishing the hope that, if fairly executed, they will restore to the country that har- 
mony and confidence which of late have been so unhappily disturbed, the State of Vir- 
ginia deems it unwise, in the present condition of the country, to send delegates to the 
proposed Southern Congress." 

,.''?• ^I'^soh-ed, That Virginia earnestly and aflectionately appeals to her sister State 
ot South Carolina, to desist from any meditated secession on her part, which cannot 
but tend to the destruction of the Union, and the loss to all of the States of the benefits 
that spring from it." 



8 

I have introduced this history in no spirit of fault finding, and with no 
intention to reflect in the least degree upon the action of Virginia. She 
had a perfect right, as a sovereign State, to accept the Compromise of 
1850 ; and, having accepted it, she was not bound to justify herself, 
except at her own pleasure. South Carolina had an equal right to refuse 
the compromise, and to take action to make good such refusal. But the 
kindly feeling which existed between the two States induced Virginia to 
pass the resolutions of 1851. A reciprocal feeling influenced South Car- 
olina; and many of her citizens, influenced by the action of Virginia, 
proceeded to canvass the State, and persuaded the people to abandon the 
idea of separate secession. The South Carolina Convention met in 1852; 
and, although a majority had been elected of those who were in favor of 
secession, that majority gave way to the popular will, and all parties united 
in asserting the right, but desisting from the act of secession. 

Thus, a second time did a convention of the people of South Carolina 
accede to the request of Virginia. Seven years have since elapsed; and, 
instead of that returning sense of justice among the Northern people, 
which you doubtless expected, ' 'the assaults upon the institution of slavery, 
and upon the rights and equality of the Southern States, have unceasingly 
continued with increasing violence, and in new and more alarming forms," 
until now, at length, the voice of a brother's blood cries to us from the 
ground ; and South Carolina, moved like yourselves by that cry, oS"ersher 
sympathy and proposes a conference ; and "earnestly requests of Virginia 
that she will appoint deputies and adopt such measures as in her judgment 
will promote the said meeting." 

South Carolina, however, does not expect, neither would she desire you 
to do what your judgments do not approve. She feels well assured that, 
under existing circumstances, such a conference is the best step which can 
be taken ; and I cannot better discharge the duty intrusted to me, than in 
presenting to your consideration the reasons which lead to this conclusion. 
To an audience so intelligent as that which now honors me with its atten- 
tion, I can scarcely advance anything new ; but it will lead to a just con- 
clusion, if we refresh our memories as to some material incidents of the 
past. 

THE NOKTU .\ND THE SODTH ST.\ND IN HOSTILE ARRAY. 

The great question which underlies all action on this subject is, whether 
the existing relations between the North and the South are temporary or 
permanent ; whether they result from accidental derangement of the body 



politic, or are indications of a nornjal condition? In the one case, tem- 
porary expedients may restore soundness ; in the other, the remedy is 
either hopeless, or it must be fundamental and thorough. 

In these aspects the invasion at Harper's Ferry is a valuable exponent. 
It furnishes many indications by which we may ascertain the actual con- 
dition of things. It is a sort of nilometer, by which we can measure the 
heights of the flood which is bursting over the land. By the providence 
of that God who preserved your people from the knife of the assassin, you 
were enabled, not only to defeat and capture your enemies, but to get pos- 
session of arms and documents which expose the design and plan of the 
assailants. You find that months must have elapsed in maturing their 
plans: that arms were manufactured, the design of which could not be 
mistaken; that large sums of money must have been collected. It is 
certain, therefore, that many persons must have known that such a blow 
was intended ; and yet, who spoke ? Who gave a single friendly warning 
to Virginia V One voice, indeed, distinctly uttered to the federal govern- 
ment a warning, but that voice was disregarded; and the catastrophe 
burst upon us as a thunder-storm in mid- winter. 

The loyal sons of Virginia rushed to her defence, and the military arm 
bows to the majesty of law, and delivers the murderer to a just and impar- 
tial trial. A new incident in the history of crime is developed. Learned 
counsel from a distant city, once f^tyled the Athens of America, proceed 
to a distant village to offer their services to defend the midnight assassin. 
Political offences have sometimes found voluntary defenders, but the moral 
sense must be absolutely perverted, when it is deemed a virtue to screen 
the murderer from punishment. The excitement grows, and your courts 
of justice cannot proceed as in ordinary cases of crime. You are com- 
pelled to surround them with military power ; and when the law has pro- 
nounced its sentence, you are compelled to guard the prison-house and 
the scafifold, to keep at bay the confederates and sympathizers with crimes 
heretofore execrated by every civilized people upon earth. 

The indications of this implacable condition of Northern opinion do not 
stop here. The sentence of death upon the criminals and their execution 
are bewailed with sounds of lamentation, such as would now follow a Ridley 
or a Latimer to the stake, and public demonstrations of sympathy exhibit 
themselves throughout the entire North. To the great discredit of our 
institutions and of our country, motions are entertained in bodies exer- 
cisin<y political power to honor the memory of a wretched fanatic and 



10 

assassin; and, in one body, the motion failed only for the want of three 
votes. These are indications which you cannot disregard. They tell of 
a state of public opinion which cannot fail to produce further evil. Every 
village bell which tolled its solemn note at the execution of Brown, pro- 
claims to the South the approbation of that village of insurrection and 
servile war: and the ease with which some of the confederates escaped 
to Canada, proves that much of the population around are willing to abet 
the actors in these incendiary attempts. 

To view this matter in its just proportions, we must set it at a little 
distance from us. Familiarity accustoms us so much to things near, that 
we lose the perception of their magnitude. A daily observer of the Falls 
of Niagara may be brought to look upon them as the ordinary descent of 
water down a river. Let us, therefore, suppose that the attempted assas- 
sination of Louis Napoleon at the opera-house in Paris had been followed 
by developments showing the contribution of arms and money in England; 
that, u]ion the arrest of the detected assassins, learned counsel had crossed 
the Channel to volunteer a defence before the French courts ; that, upon 
his condemnation, threats of sympathy compelled the government to sur- 
round the scaffold with arms; and, upon his execution, bells were tolled 
in many English villages; and, as a consummation of the whole, a motion 
was entertained to adjourn the Parliament in honor of the memory of the 
assassin, and that this motion had failed in one House only by three votes. 
Does any man suppose that, under these circumstances, the peace of 
Europe could have been preserved for a day ? Unless prompt disavowal 
and punishment had been offered, every Frenchman would have been ready 
to cross the ChaniKil as an enemy, and the civilized world \vould have 
regarded tlie English people as a nation of outlaws. 

In our country, so far from there being any proper indication of disa- 
vowal, the indications are the other v.'ay. Elections have taken place at 
the North since the Harper's Ferry invasion, in w^hich the public senti- 
ment has been exhilnted. Those who maintain the abolition views have 
proved stronger than they ever were before. In New York they have 
triumphed over the other parties combined together; and in Boston, not- 
withstanding an attempt to stay the tide, the same result has followed. In 
Congress, the same lamentable exhibition is afforded. More than one hun- 
dred members prefer to keep the government disorganized, rather than 
abandon a candidate whose recommendation of a book inviting a combined 
effort to introduce anarchy and servile war at the South, makes him obnox- 



11 

ious to the South : and of these, some sixty have signed a recommendation 
of the same book ; and there they stand, and have stood for more than six 
weeks, with unbroken front, refusing any kind of concession to the out- 
raged feelings of the South. Can any Southern man believe that these 
Representatives do not represent the feelings of their constituents; and 
that they would venture upon the measure of keeping the goverment dis- 
organized, against the public oninion that is behind them. 

Here then, we have before us the North and the South, standing face 
to face-not yet as avowed and open enemies; but with deep-seated feel- 
ings of enmity ranklino- in their bosoms, which at any moment may burst 
forth into action. Is it wise, when wc see liame shining through every 
crevice, and ready to leap from every open window-is it wise to close the 
window, and till up every gap, and shut our eyes to the fact that the fare 
is racing within the building? It is not wise. We must examine the 
premises, and determine whether the building can be saved, or whether it 
must be abandoned. ^ 

We have now reached this point in our in>iuiry. The Harper s lerry 
invasion, with the developments following it, and the now existing condition 
of the country, prove that the North and the South are standing in hostile 
array-the one with an absolute majority, sustaining those who meditate 
our destruction, and refusing to us any concession or guaranty-and the 
other baffled in every attempt at compromise or security. 

CAUSES WHICH HAVE OPERATED TO PRODUCE THE RESULT, AND WHETHER 
PERMANENT OK NOT. 

The inquiry which must naturally follow would be into the causes which 
have led to this result, and whether these causes are transient in character, 
or must continue to operate until they result in a final overthrow o^ our 

institutions. 

To determine this question, it becomes necessary to review a portion of 

the history of our country. 

At the termination of the Revolutionary war, there were six slavehold- 
ing States and seven non-slaveholding. The Northern section had no 
territory but that from which has siuce been formed the States of Vermont 
and Maine. The Southern owned the Northwest and the Southwest, and had 
in its possession the means of expanding itself into the numerous States 
which have since been formed out of this territory. The local law ot 
slavery in the parent State would have followed in the offspring, and the 



12 

esult must have been that the power of the South would have had the 
vast preponderance. At that time, too, the commerce of the South was 
equal to that of the North ; and, occupying a more favorable position, 
both as to soil and climate, there was every reasonable prospect that she 
would be in the advance of all the elements of national strength. 

How different a result do we this day realize! The^North has grown 
to a degree of power and grandeur unequalled in the history of the world. 
They have taken possession of the magnificent inheritance of the South, 
and on the fertile plains which should have been ours they gather their thou- 
sands, and utter voices of denunciation against those who bestowed upon 
them the power and wealth which they enjoy. What are the causes of these 
results ? How has it come to pass that the South, having in its hands the 
means of unlimited progress and certain preponderance, has been reduced 
almost to the condition of a suppliant, while the North has grown into 
such proportions that it assumes to give law as a master? 

The more perfect union of the States was an object of great interest to 
the Revolutionary pati'iots. In 1784, Virginia led the w:iy by ceding to 
the United States her magnificent domain north of the Ohio river. The 
terms of Virginia's act of cession required that the States to be formed 
from this territory shall be "admitted members of the Federal Union, 
having the same rights of sovereignty, freedom, and independence, as the 
other States." Shortly after the cession, a committee of the Congress of 
the Confederation was raised to frame an ordinance for the establishment 
of the territory. This committee, of whom Mr. Jefferson was one, 
reported an ordinance excluding slavery after the year 1800. This 
restriction on slavery, however, was struck out by the Congress on motion 
of North Carolina — every Southern State and every Southern delegate, 
except Mr. Jefferson, voting for striking out; and the ordinance was 
adopted without the restriction. During the several subsequent sessions 
of Congress, other propositions were moved ; and finally, on the 13th of 
July, 1787, just two months before the adoption of our present Constitu- 
tion, the ordinance was adopted with the restriction clause, as follows: 

"Art. G. There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitnde in the said ter- 
ritory, otherwise than in the pnnishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been 
duly convicted ; Provided abrcn/s, that any person escaping; into the same, from whom 
labor or service is lawfully claimed iu any one of the original States, such fugitive may 
be lawfull}^ reclaimed and conveyed to the pei-sun claiming his or her labor or service 
as aforesaid." 

Three things are apparent from this statement : the first is, that Vir- 
ginia and the South made this great concession for the sake of the Federal 



13 

Union ; tlie second is, that the concession was made upon the express 
condition that fugitive slaves escaping into the territory should be restored 
to their owners; and the third is, that at this early period, long before 
fanaticism had mingled in this controversy, and before the South had any 
apprehensions as to her equal rights, the North, with far-reaching crafti- 
ness, secured to itself a predominance of eventual power in the Union. 
The generous and confiding character of the South overlooked these con- 
siderations. Her statesmen were then in possession of the government. 
General Washington was at the head, surrounded by generous and noble 
spirits; and the slaveholder and the non-slaveholder had so often stood 
side by side in conflict Avith their enemy, that they still deemed each other 
brethren. 

But what has been the efllect of these cessions upon the relative con- 
dition of the North and the South V From this ceded territory nine States 
have grown — Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Kentucky, 
Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi. These States, added to the six 
original slave States, would have increased their number to fifteen. The 
Northern States, having but two new States to add to their original seven, 
would have numbered nine in all Hence, it would have followed that 
the South would now have had 80 Senators and 122 Representatives in 
Congress, while the North would have had only 18 Senators and 92 Rep- 
resentatives. The efiect of the cessions, however, has been to give to the 
North five out of these nine States, while the South retained but four. 
The Northern States have, therefore, added these five to their original 
seven ; which twelve being added to Vermont and Maine, made their num- 
ber fourteen, against ten Southern States; and the distribution of power, 
according to the present basis, gives to the North, as the effect of these 
cessions, 28 Senators and 1 10 Representatives in Congress, while the South 
has only 20 Senators and 74 Representatives. 

History does not afford a parallel for so magnanimous and voluntary a 
surrender. Virginia, which contributed the largest portion, was perhaps, 
more independent than any of her sisters. With a climate and soil the 
most favored by nature — with an extended commerce — with fine ports and 
noble rivers — with somewhat of a navy, and with a well-tried militia, she 
was quite able to stand alone. But she gave up all for the sake of union. 
Nay, more — the whole produce of the sales of all the land ceded by the 
South amounting to some one hundred and fifty millions of dollars, was 
thrown into the coff"er of the Union— while the sales in the Northern por- 



14 

tion of the Union were reserved to themselves. Surely, if there could be 
created a sentiment of gratitude and brotherly love in States, that senti- 
ment should have existed in the Northern States toward the people of the 
South. 

The next event of importance in this history, was the purchase of 
Louisiana. This acquisition was made in April, 1803, under the treaty 
with France, and was approved by the whole Union. The territory acquired 
was all slaveholding. The rights of the inhabitants were expressly guar- 
anteed to them by treaty: and the local law being that of a slaveholding 
country, of course attached throughout its entire extent. Ten States have 
been, or are about to be, formed from this purchase. At the date of the 
treaty, there were eight slaveholding and nine non-slaveholding States: 
and from the territory then belonging to the Union, the slave States could 
add to their number but two, to wit: Alaba,ma and Mississippi — while hve 
remained to be added to the North, namely, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, 
Wisconsin, and Maine. When these should all have been admitted, the 
North was to have fourteen States — the South but ten. The purchase of 
Louisiana, by extending the local law of slavery over all its territory, 
added to the South this whole area, making in all twenty States; and the 
acquisition of Florida, under the treaty of Spain, added one more State, 
making twenty-one Southern States, against fourteen Northern. 

Such was the condition and prospects of the Union when Missouri 
applied for admission. Maine had just been admitted without objection, 
and the Union stood at its old position — the North having one more State 
than the South. The admission of Missouri would only have made them 
equal for the time. The opposition, therefore, to the admission of Missouri 
was induced not by any existing preponderance of the South, but by one 
that was inticipated. Just as they did in 1787, the North made use of 
the attachment of the South to the Union to effect their scheme, and insisted 
that all the territory west of the Mississippi should be given up by the 
South. It is highly instructive to us, in our present circumstances to 
notice that the only motive to this refusal to admit Missouri, must have 
been to secure power to the North. Fanaticism had yet exercised no con- 
trolling power. Hatred had not yet been excited. The many bonds, 
social, commercial, and religious, which bound the country together, were 
yet in full vigor. 

Again the adoration of the South for union prevailed. A voice from 
its midst, in an evil hour, proposed what is called a compromise, and the 



15 

North eagerly seized and urged it forward. The Missouri Compromise 
took its place on the statute-book, and graved in the soil of the Union a 
geographical line between the North and the South. It was called a com- 
promise ; but unfortunately it differed from the usual acceptation of the 
term, in that it gave all on one side of the line to the North, and secured 
nothing on the other side to the South. By it the North gained territory 
for six additional States, namely: Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska, 
Oregon, and Washington. The South reserved but two — Missouri and 
Arkansas — with the chances of a third from the Indian territory. The 
disastrous consequences of this compromise are portrayed with the pen of 
a prophet, by Mr. Jefferson ; and I respectfully ask to have his Avords read 
in your hearing: 

Extract from a letter of Mr. Jefferson to Joint Ilolmcf. 

":\[oNTicEr,i,o, April 22, 1830. 

"I thank you, dear sir, for the copy you have been so kind as to send me of the let- 
ter to your constituents on the Missouri question. It is a perfect justification to them. 
1 had' for a long time ceased to read newspapers, or pay any attention to public 
affairs, confident that they \verein jiood hands, and content to be a passenger in our bark 
to the shore, from which I am not far distant. But this momentous question, like a 
fire-bell in the night, awakened and filled mc Mitli terror. I considered it at once as 
the knell of the Union. It is hushed, indeed, for the moment. But this is a reprieve 
only, not the final sentence. A geographical line, coinciding with a marked principle, 
moral and political, once conceived and held up to the angr}- passions of men, will 
never be obliterated, and every new irritation will mark it deeper and deeper. ■■•■ •■■ 

''I regret that I am now todie in the belief that the useless sacrifice of themselves 
l)y the generation of ITT'j, to acquire self-government and happiness to their country, 
is to be thrown away Ity the unwise and unworthy passions of their sons, and that my 
only consolation is to be, that I shall not live to weep over it."' 

ACTION OF THE ABOLITIONISTS IN CONGKESS. 

We will now pass down to the period when a new element was brought 
into this unfortunate controversy. In 1835, petitions for the abolition of 
slavery in places subject to the authority of the general government, began 
to be presented to Congress. This form of proceeding was adopted merely 
to adjust a lever which might reach the institution of slavery within the 
States ; and it is hazarding little to affirm, that such was distinctly under- 
stood to be the design of the movement. Such an attempt should have 
been met by the prompt and stern rebuke of the common government of 
all the States; for it would seem to be an axiomatic truth, that where sev- 
eral States had entered into an alliance, there was an obligation on each to 
respect the institutions of the other ; and that any attempt to use the 
alliance for the purpose of assailing the institutions of any one of the par- 
ties, was a breach of faith, and must ensue in a dissolution of the alliance. 



16 

Stern rebuke, and unyielding resistance, should have been offered by 
Congress to all these attempts ; and such was the course advised by 
Southern statesmen. As far back as 1838, the dangers which are now 
around us were clearly foretold by Mr. Calhoun, and it may serve to con- 
vince us that the final result is not far in the future, if we see before us 
the antecedents which had been distinctly traced. I ask leave, therefore, 
to have read an extract from a sijeech made in 1838 : 

'■This was tlie only question of sufficient magnitude and potency to divide this Union ; 
and divide it, it would, or drench the country in blood, if not arrested, lie knew how 
much the sentiment he had uttered would Vie misconstrued and misrepresented. There 
were those who saw no danger to the Union in the violation of all its fundamental 
principles, but who were full of apprehension when danger was foretold or resisted, 
and who held not the authors of the danger, but those who forewarned or opi)Osed it, 
responsible for consequences. But the cry of disunion, by the weak or designing had 
no terror for him. If his attacliment to the Union Avas less, he might tamper with the 
deep disease which now afflicts the body politic, and keep silent until the patient was 
ready to sink under its mortal blows. It is a cheap, and he must say, but too certain 
a mode of acquiring the character of devoted attachment to the Union. But seeing the 
danger as he did, he would be a traitor to the Union, and those he represented, to keep 
silence. The assaults daily made on the institutions of nearly one-half of the States 
of this Union b}- the other — institutions interwoven from the beginning with their 
political and social existence, and which cannot be other than they are, without their 
inevitable destruction, will, and must, if continued, ma.ke (tt-o people of 07ie, by destroy- 
ing every sympathy between the two great sections, obliterating from their hearts the 
recollections of their common danger and glory, and implanting in their place a mutual 
hatred, more deadly than ever existed between two neighboring people, since the com- 
mencement of the human race. He feared not the circulation of the thousands of in- 
cendiary and slanderous pul)lications, which Mere daily issued from an organized and 
powerful press, among those intended to be villified. They cannot penetrate our sec- 
tion ; that was not the danger ; it lay in a different direction. Their circulation in the 
non-slaveholding States was what was to be dreaded. It was infusing a deadly poison 
into the minds of the rising generation, implanting in them feelings of hatred, the most 
deadly hatred, instead of affection and love, for one-half of this Union, to be returned 
on their part with equal detestation. The fatal, immutable consequences, if not arrested, 
and that without delay, were such as he had presented. 

'The abolitionists tell j'ou, in so many words, that their object is to abolish slavery 
in the District of Columbia, as but one step toward final abolition in the States. With this 
object, avowed b}^ the abolitionists, what do duly and policy demand on our part '! We 
see the end ; and that, if it can be effected, it would be our destruction. Shall Ave yield 
or stand fast? That is the question. If we yield an inch, we are gone. The A-cry 
ground on Avliich Ave are asked to make the first concession, \A'ill be urged on ns Avith 
ecjual force to make the second, the third, and every intermediate one, till the last is 
consummated. •••' * * •■■ * At every step they Avould become stronger, and avc 
Aveaker, if Ave should be so infatuated as to make the first concession. * * •■■ * * 
There never Avas a question agitated, Avhere the most unyielding opposition Avas so 
necessary for success. 

"He ought not, perhaps, to be surprised that Senators should differ so Avidely from 
him on this subject. They did vieAV the disease as be did. He saAV Avorking at the 
bottom of these movements the same spirit Avhich, tAVO centuries ago, convulsed the 
Christian Avorld, and deluged it in blood — tliat fierce and cruel spirit of persecution 
Avhich originated in assumed superiority and mistaken principles of duty, that made 
one man believe that he Avas accountable for the sins of another, and that he AA'as the 
judge of Avhat belonged to his temporal and eternal Avelfare, and AA-as bound, at the 
peril of his own soul, to interfere to rescue him from perdition. Against this fell and 
bloody spirit it Avas in vain to interpose this amendment. * *" ■■■' "•■■■ * •••' An 
inflexible adherence to our principles and our rights, and a decided and emphatic tone, 
equally remote from violence or concession, only can saA'c us. The deluded agitators 



rail 



17 

.„.,st be plainly toltl that it is no concern of theirs wlwt is the character of onv Insti- 
tutions, and that they must not be touched here, or in the territories or the btates, by 
them or the government : that thev were under the guardian protection of the Consti- 
tution, and that Ave stood prepared to repel all interference or disconnection, be the 
consequence what it might.'" 

Unfortunately for the South, concession became again its policy It 
was virtually admitted that the North had a right to assail the institution 
of slavery when Congress agreed to receive their petitions. Logically, 
this admission demanded a consideration of the matter of the petition. 
But, with singular inconsistency, a rule was made that the petitions should 
be laid upon the table, without further action. So violent a separation of 
premises and conclusions satisfied no one ; and the result was, that the 
agitation continued with unabated zeal. The political parties into which 
the country was divided, made their court to this fanatical element, added 
to its strength, and gave direction to its blindness. 

Its first fruits were developed in the severance of Christian fellowship in 
the churches. Inflamed with zeal, by imaginary wrong, and assuming as 
an article of the faith, that slavery was a sin, they denounced their brethren 
of the South as unworthy of meeting with them at the table of their com- 
mon Master. The professed followers of that meek and gentle Saviour, 
who, from the hills of GJalilee, and from the mountains of Judea, had 
looked down without censure upon thousands of dwellings, inhabited by 
slaveholders — of that Saviour, one of whose first miracles was the healing, 
and restoring to a Roman master, his slave, sick with the palsy, and com- 
mending that master, by declaring that he had not found faith like his in 
all Israel — these Northern professors of a new Christianity cannot hold 
communion with slave-owners. 

The great apostle of the Gentiles could compass the Komau world, and 
preach to the thousands, and tens of thousands of slaveholders around him, 
without one word of reproach. He could convert to the faith the fugitive 
slave of one of his friends, and send back to him that slave, without the 
smallest imputation upon his faith or practice. Nay, more— as though 
the spirit of God had prepared, beforehand, the means to enlighten every 
Christian upon this very subject — the church of God is inspired to place 
in the canon of scripture, the noble and respectful letter written by St. 
Paul to this slaveholding master. The whole Roman world— from the 
Euphrates to the Pillars of Hercules — from the Danube to Mount Atlas — 
Goths and Ostrogoths, Vandals, Huns, Gauls and Britons, all can hold 
communion with each other, through the common Lord, when professing 
the common faith; yet here, in the same nation, under the same constitu- 



18 

tion, with the same Bible, professing one faith, the North cuimot hold fel- 
lowship with the South. The great leading denominations— Methodist 
and Baptist — have entirely severed their connection with each other. The 
Presbyterian and Ej)iscopalian still meet together, and are yet preserved 
from this fanaticism. But in one portion even of Presbyterian, and in 
many of the smaller denominations, the cords are chafed and worn so, as 
to be incapable of further stress ; and so it results that the North acknow- 
ledges no fellowship with the South. They practically have added a new 
article to the Christian creed, and in all these cases the tidal wave of per- 
secution has set in from the North, and at eacb flow it surges higher and 
higher upon the ^"outh, without any interval of ebb. 

ADMISSION OF XKXAS AND ITS FRUITS. 

The next step in our history, to which I must allude, is the admission 
of Texas into the Union. At this period, there were twenty-six States in 
the Union, evenly divided between the North and the South. Southern 
development had been exhausted ; but in the territory remaining, five 
States were yet to be added to the North. The World's Convention, 
which met at London in 184.3, had taken into its consideration the aboli- 
tion of slavery in Texas. In this convention were delegates from New 
England : and it is a matter of history that the convention waited on the 
British minister, and urged upon him a government loan to Texas to be 
applied toward the abolition of slavery. What took place in the secret 
conclave of the minister, can easil}'- be conjectured, from the following 
outline of a debate in the British Parliament, extracted from the London 
"Times :'" 

"Tkxas. — In the Hou.-^c cf Lords on Friday, tlic 18tli of Aufi'ust, Lord Hroiiiiluuii 
introduci'd tlio subjuct of Texas and Texan sla\ery, in the tollowinf,^ manner : 

''L(ird lircjno'ham said that, sceino- his noble friend at the liead of tlie foreign depart- 
ment in liis phice, he wished to obtain some information from liim relative to a State of 
great interest at the present time, namely Te.\as. That country was in a state of inde- 
pendence, de factOj but its independence had never been acknowledged by Mexico, the 
State from which it was torn by the events of the revolution. He was aware that its inde- 
pendence had been so far acknowledged hy this country, that we had a treaty with it. 

"Tlic imijortame of Texas could not l)e underrated. It was a country of the greatest 
capabilities, and was in extent fully as large as France. It possessed a soil of the finest 
and most tertile cliaracter, and it was capable of producing nearly all tropical produce, 
and its climate Avas of a most healthy character. It had access to the Gulf of Mexico, 
through the I'iver Mississippi, with which it communicated by means of the Red river. 

•;■;• •:•:■ «■ ■•;■ The markets whence they obtained their supi>ly of slaves were Georgia, 
the Carolinas, and \'irginia : which States constantly sent their surplus slave popula- 
tion, which would otherwise be a burden to them, to the Texan market. No doul)t it 
was true, as has been stated, that they treated their slaves tolerably \\ell, because they 
knew it was for their interest to rear them, as they had such a profitable market for 
them in Texas. This made him irre.-<istil)ly anxious for the abolition of slavery in 
Texas ; for if it were abolished there, not only would that country be cultivated by 



19 

free ind white labor, but it ^vould put a stop to the habit of breeding shives tor the 
Texan raaiet. The' eonsequence ^vm.hl be, that they wouhl solve th>s great question 
in theTdstory of the United States, for it must ultimately end m the abolit on o 
sHverv in America. He therefore looked forward most anxiously o the abobtion o 
i ver - in Texis as he was eonvineed that it w.:"'.d ultimately end in the abolition ot 

a -en- Erou' lout the whole of America. He knew that the Te.xans would do mu-'l 
as regarded the abolition of slavery, if Mexico could he induced to recognize then 

'"'^qTihSre by our good offices, we could get .ac Mexican government to ackiiow- 
U.dJeSS:pl.4rce o'f Texas, hewould suggest a >-l- ^J-^?^™'^ j ^^^^.^^ ^ \:, 
the'ab.dition of slavery in Texas, and ultimately the whole ot the .Southern Stat.s ot 
America." 

The Earl of Aberdeen, in his reply, stated that— 

"He need hardlv sav that everv effort on the part of her majcsty-s government would 
lead to Kit result which was contemplated by his noble r end. He was sure that he 
need hardly sav that no one was more anxious than hnnselt to see the abolition ot sla- 
very in Texas ■ and if he could not consent to produce papers, or to give further intor- 
mation it did not arise from indifference, but from (luite a contrary reason. In the 
present state of the negotiations between the two countries in question, it would not 
•„ntribiite to the end thcv had in view if he then expressed any opinion as to the state 
otloe negotiations; but he could assure his noble friend that, by means o urging 
the negotiations, as well as by every other means in tlieir power, her majesty s minis- 
ters would press this matter.'" 

Lord Brougham observed that nothing could bo more satisfactory than 
the statement of his noble friend, which would be received with joy by all 
who were favorable to the object of the anti-slavery societies. 

At this important period, the providence of that God, who holdeth in 
his hand the destinies of nations, set aside the powers which man had 
placed in authority over us, and raised up two Virginia patriots in their 
stead. John Tyler, and Abel P. Upshur, men of sterling character, and 
far-seeing statesmanship, were put in charge of the ship of state. They 
saw through the schemes of England. With consummate skill, and ear- 
nest zeal, they undertook to rescue Texas, and had so far succeeded, that 
a treaty was ready for signature between Texas and the United States, 
when the explosion on board the Princeton deprived the country of the 
valued life of Judge Upsher. Mr. Calhoun was then put in requisition 
by Mr. Tyler, and the unanimous vote of the Senate called him to the post 
of Secretary of State. In a fortnight the treaty was completed, and 
once more equality between the North and South was on the eve of being 

restored . 

But here intervened one of those unfortunate canvassings for the Pres- 
idency, which are the bane of the South. Mr. Van Buren, and Mr. Clay, 
the candidates of the two great parties, each fearing to offend the Abolition 
party, or to throw it into the scale of his antagonist, simultaneously pub- 
lished letters against annexation, and at the ensuing session of Congress 
the treaty with Texas was defeated. The good sense of the country, how- 



20 

ever, assisted b}^ tliat appetite for territory which .seems to belong to the 
Anglo-Saxon race, put aside the trammels of political machinery, and 
declared in favor of annexation. The unfortunate managers were over- 
whelmed in the catastrophe, and the Southern patriots had the satisfaction 
of consummating the admission of Texas three days before they surrendered 
the reins of government to their successors. 

The conditions upon which Texas was admitted into the Union, provided 
that from her territory five States might be created in the future. Inas- 
much as at least five remained to ba admitted for the Northern section, 
the admission of Texas gave to the South merely an equilibrium in the 
Senate. The majority in the House was already gone from the South for- 
ever. The electoral colleges, if arranged sectionally, would give a majority 
also to the North. So that all the South acquired by the admission of 
Texas was the power to check — a negative power. J'ositive power had 
already departed from them. 

THE MEXICAN WAK. 

At this era the Mexican war occurred. The country rushed into it with 
an eagerness which blinded it to all consequences. North and South 
freely contributed its blood and treasure, and freely shared its glories and 
its dangers. But before the paeans of victory had yet subsided- — before the 
lamentations for the dead had yet ceased — before the country could yet 
see through the clouds of the future — the North summoned together its 
forces to seize for themselves the entire spoils of the war. The Wilmot 
proviso was brought forward during the war, in August, 1846, and so far 
as the House of Eepi-esentatives in Congress was concerned, was adopted. 
By this proviso, it was declared that slavery should be excluded from all 
territory to be acquired from Mexico. The Southern States were informed 
that, although their blood and treasure had contributed to the result — 
although the bones of their slain lay entombed before the fortresses, and 
among the mountains of Mexico — although Monterey, and Churubusco, 
and Buena Vista, and Chapultepec, were names sacred to the glories of 
North or South, yet no Southern man should stand upon the conquered 
territory upon the same footing with the Northern. The institutions of 
the North, whether Mormon or infidel, might attend them- — the Chinaman, 
or the Lascar, or the Sandwich-Islander, or the Zambo- — all might have 
equal protection and right, but the most valuable property of the Southern 
man must be left behind. 



21 

It is not surprising that the Southern States should have been fired with 
indignation at this attack. But what availed that? Although in 1846 
the Senate checked the proviso by a manoeuvre, yet in 1847 it was renewed, 
upon the expanded basis of excluding the South from all territory on this 
continent. This also passed the House of Representatives and was again 
defeated by the management of the Senate. 

Forbearance could sustain no more. The legislatures of the Southern 
States began to speak their deep and settled indignation. 
Virginia, in March, 1847, thus announced her purpose. 

Extract from Virginia Resolutions of 18-17. 
•■■1 Resolved unanimoudy, That all tcrritorv which may be acquired by the arms of 
the United States, or vielded bv treaty with any foreign power, belongs to the several 
.States of this Union, as their joint and common property, in which eacli and all have 
equal rights, and that the enactment by the federal government of any law which sliould 
directlv.'or by its effects, prevent the citizens of any State from emigrating with tlieir 
property of whatever description, into such territory, would make a discrimination 
unwarnmted by, and in violation of, the Constitution, and the rights ot the States 
from which such citizens emigrated, and in derogation of that perfect equality which 
belongs to tlie several States as members of this Union, and would tend directly to 
subvert the Union itself. , . . , ^ ^, , <• 

•'3. Resolve'/, That if, in disregard alike of the spirit and principles of the act ot 
Congress on the admission of the State of Missouri into the Union, generally known 
as the Missouri compromise, and of every consideration of justice, of constitutional 
rioht and of fraternal feelinu', the fearful issue shall be forced upon the country, whicli 
must result from the adoption and attempted enforcement of the proviso aforesaid as an 
act of tlie general government, the people of Virginia can have no difficulty in choosing 
between the oulv alternatives that will then remain, of abject submission to aggression 
and outrage on the one hand, or determined resistance on the other, at all hazards, and 
to the last extremity. , , , . , ., i ^ c 

"4 Resolved imammously , That the general assembly holds it to l)e the duty of every 
man in every section of this confederacy, if the Union is dear to him, to oppose the 
I^assage of any law, for whatever purpose, liy which territory to be acquired may Ite 
subject to such a restriction. . 

",',. Resolved unanimoushj. That the passage of the above-mentioned proviso makes 
it the duty of everv slaveholdino- State, and of all the citizens thereof, as they value 
their dearest privileges, their sovereignty, their independence, their rights of property, 
to take firm, united and concerted action in this emergency." 

South Carolina uttered the same language in December of the same 
year; and the other Southern States responded, in such a manner as to 
produce a pause. The treaty with Mexico was signed in May, 1848, and 
an attempt was then made in Congress to arrange the territory acquired, 
to the satisfaction of the North and the South. The South asked no more 
than that their rights and property, as guaranteed by the Constitution, 
should be respected. The North, on the other hand, demanded the total 
exclusion of Southern institutions. With a view to some proper adjust- 
ment, a committee was raised in the. Senate, consisting of an equal num- 
ber of Northern and Southern men. The chairman was Mr. Clayton, 
from the nearly neutral State of Delaware. Hear his account of the pro- 
ceedings of that committee : 



22 

"As soon as we sisscmbled, a proposition was made \>y a monilicr from tlie SoiUli to 
extend the Missouri compromise line to the Pacific. The vote upon it stood, four 
Southern members for it, and/o?/r Northern members nrjainst it. We renewed the jiro- 
position in erery ronceioab/e form ; but our Nortlicrn friends rejected it as often as it 
was proposed. We discussed it — we entreated them to adopt it. We did not j)retcnd 
that it was a constitutional measure, but tliat it luid been Iield by manj- as a compact 
iietween tlie North and the Soutli, and was justified as a measure of peace. We araued 
to show the justice of extending,- tlie line to the Pacific. I obtained a statement ifrom 
the land office, showing that by such an extension of this line, the North would have 
the exclusive occupation of one million and six hundred thousand square miles, in the 
territories outside the States, and the South but two hundred and sixty-two thousand 
square miles, in \vhich observe, slavery could only Ije tolerated in case the people resid- 
ino- there should allow it. The proposition lieing rejected by the North, there was, 
indeed, as the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Calhoun) has described it, 'a solemn 
pause in the committee." All ho]ie of amicable settlement for the moment vanished, 
and unnatural contention seemed likely to preval among us. It was then proposed to 
rest the present hope of settlement on the Supreme Court, as the ark of our safety. We 
came into the Senate with three-fourths of the committee in favor of it, and the other 
fourth not fixed against it. An ajjpeal was jirovided in the lull from ail decisions of 
the territorial judges in case of writs of habeas corjntSj or other cases, where the issue 
of personal freedom should be presented. The South agreed in the Senate, with extra- 
ordinary unanimity, to submit the validity of their claims to the Supreme Court : but 
the North were by no means unanimous. There was, however, a majority in favor of 
the bill embracing this principle. Having passed the Senate, it was sent to the House, 
where, on the twenty-eighth day of July, 1848. it was defeated by a vote of one hundred 
and twelve to ninety-seven — five-sixtbs of the op])osition to it l)eing from the North.'' 

The failure of this scheme left the territory without government, and in 
August, 1848, the Oregon territorial bill was passed ; by the 26th section 
of which, it was enacted that the inhabitants of the said territory shall be 
entitled to all the privileges granted by the ordinance of 1787, and shall 
be subject to all the conditions, and restrictions, and prohibitions, in said 
articles of compact imposed upon the people of said territory." Here, 
then, was an enactment of the Wilmot proviso; but as it only covered 
territory north of 8G degrees, oO minutes, the President approved it on 
that ground, and the South ac(|uiesced again. 

The conflict was still continued as to the remaining territory ; and in 
1849 Virginia repeated, and confirmed her resolutions of 1847, and added 
another as to the slave trade in the District of Columbia. The following 
are the resolutions: 

Extract from Resolutions of the (Icneral Assembly of Viryinia, adopted Jan. '20, 1849. 

■'1. Resolved unanimously, That the jiassage of the above-mentioned proviso makes 
it the duty of every slaveholding State, and of all citizens thereof, as they value their 
dearest privileges, their sovereignty, tlieir independence, and their rights of property, 
to take firm, united, and concerted action, in this emergency. 

"2. Resolved, Tliat we regard the jiassage of a law by the Congress of the United 
States, abolishing slavery, or the slave-trade, in the District of Columbia, as a direct 
attack upon the institutions of the Southern States, to be resisted at every hazard. 

".3. Resolved, That in the event of the passage by Congress of the Wilmot proviso, 
or any law abolishing slavery or t^e slave-trade in the District of Columbia, the gov- 
ernor of this commonwealth is requested immediately to convene the legislature of this 
State (if it shall have adjourned) to consider of the mode and means of redress." 



23 

South Carolina again responded, in December, 1849, and declared that 
the time for action had come ; and she was not mistaken, for, immediately 
thereafter, the President of the United States sent out his military gov- 
ernor to organize the territory of California. At his word election dis- 
tricts are formed, and electoral rights conferred; and the promiscuous 
horde, wliom war, and the spirit of adventure, had collected in California, 
are invested with authority to make a constitution, and by it exclude the 
entire South from any particpation in the wealth of that whole region. 

In 1850, this Constitution came before Congress, and was adopted with 
the other measures known as the compromise of 1850. South Carolina 
regarded these measures as a mere aggravation of the injuries before 
heaped upon the South. She considered the constitution of California, 
when sanctioned by Congress, to be a virtual enactment of the Wilmot 
proviso. Even the Missouri compromise line had been disregarded by 
that constitution : and the entire Pacific coast had now, by the operation 
of the Oregon bill, and this constitution of California, been closed to 
Southern emigration. One of these compromise measures enacted as 
follows : 

•'It shall not lie lawful to briug- into the District of Columbia, iiny slave whatever, 
for the purpose of being placed in depot, to be subsequently transferred to any other State, 
or place, to be sold as merchandise ; and if such slave be brought into the said district 
by its owner, or by the authority or consent of its owner, contrary to the provisions 
of this act, such slave shall thereupon liecome liberated and. free." 

This law raised the issue upon which Virginia had pledged herself to 
act; and South Carolina, in going forward, considered herself merely as 
the front rank of the advancing column of her sisters. I refer again to 
these incidents merely as facts, with no intention to censure or impute 
wrong. They must be mentioned to explain and justify the course of 
South Carolina, and they show that in each stage of her progress she had, 
as she thought, the concurrence of her sister States. 

In her judgment, the other compromise measure of 1850, which changed 
the boundary of Texas, was ecjually exceptionable. It withdrew territory 
from the State of Texas, for no other apparent purpose than to convert 
that territory into free soil, and brought close upon the flank of the Southern 
States the very instrument for their destruction which Lord Brougham had 
sought in 1843 ; and for all this, the equivalent oflered to the South was 
a fugitive slave law,, which we believed would be as persistently eluded by 
the Northern States, as the obligation which the Constitution and the pre- 
vious laws of Congress had already imposed upon them. 



24 

Entertaining these opinions, South Carolina proceeded to arm lier peo- 
ple. Desiring to act in concert with the South, she first sent delegates 
to a Southern Congress, and next prepared herself to secede from 
the Union. At this stage of her progress she was met by your resolutions 
of 1851, in which you declared your acceptance of the compromise of 
1850, and your request to us to desist from our purpose of secession. We 
did desist. We restrained our gallant coursers, although with great 
straining upon the reins of State. We have stood still from that day, and 
almost mute. We have waited as you desired — and what have since been 
the results? 

THE KANSAS CONTROVERSY. 

Kansas next came upon the stage of action. A strong effort is made 
in Congress by those who yet believed in the virtue of reasoning with 
fanaticism, and of persuading the demagogue to remove the whole subject 
of slavery from the halls of Congress. The Kansas-Nebraska act is 
passed; the Missouri Compromise is repealed. At the same time the 
Supreme Court lends its aid, b}' the Dred Scott decision, and the South is 
congratulated that now she is to have that peace for which so many sac- 
rifices have been made. 

No sooner is this done, but the contest assumes a new and more alarm- 
ing character. Throughout the North societies are organized for taking 
possession of Kansas. Emigrants are sent out, armed to the teeth — and 
the arms are furnished by the pulpit and the press. The South can do no 
less than defend itself — and thus civil war is waged in the territory between 
the North and the South ; and nothing but its distance in the far West 
prevented it from involving the entire country. That war was crushed 
out by the forces of the federal government ; but the bloodhounds whom 
it trained were kept in leash to break forth upon Harper's Ferry. It has 
ended in the complete delivery of Kansas to the North ; and now the two 
sections stand front to front — the North elate with victory, in possession 
of both Houses of Congress, and only awaiting the Presidential election 
to seize upon the purse and the sword of the nation. 

Heretofore each section of the Union was represented in either camp. 
But now both camps are sifted, and no familiar voice from either section 
is lifted to stay the sounds of angry vituperation. A broad geographical 
line is ploughed into the soil, and none may cross it but with sword and 
buckler. Compare this state of things with the period when a few fan- 



25 

atical followers rallied around Birney as their leader. Look at the struggle 
made at the last Presidential election, and consider how nearly we had 
reached the crisis. The Delilah of the North had already cried out, ' 'The 
Philistines be upon thee, Samson." And although, on that occasion, 
he burst asunder the withes and gave us respite for four years, yet now 
again are new bonds in preparation; and this time we have reason to fear 
that the locks of our strength have been shorn— and, made blind before- 
hand, we are about to be driven to the millstones to grind meal for our 

enemies. 

We stand now in the Union fifteen States to eighteen ; and of these 
fifteen we must consider at least one as neutral. The constitutional bar- 
rier which we have always had in the Senate is, therefore, gone, and with 
it all power to check the appointments to office. The House of Repre- 
sentatives has been lost to us for years. The Electoral College, when 
combined sectionally, must, of course, elect a sectional President ; and, 
in a few years, even the judicial arm, with its slender protection, must 
follow the appointing power. As matters stand, we are virtually excluded 
from all the territory of the Union ; and even the territorial legislature of 
Nebraska has ventured to pass an act excluding slavery from that territory. 
At every point, therefore, we are fairly at bay. 

And what is the prospect before us ? Is it likely that the torrent which 
is in motion will be stayed in its course ? A few moments' consideration 
of its causes will inform us. The generation which now has possession of 
the political power of the North has been regularly trained from child- 
hood to the course which they are now pursuing. At their mother's knee 
they were taught that slavery was a sin. The school then surrounded 
them with pictures and books, in which the lash was represented in every 
Southern hand, and the groans of the slave as the music of every house- 
hold. Horrid spectacles of mothers separated from their children— descrip- 
tions of brutal violence and savage disregard of the kindliest feelings of 
humanity have been set before them, and the generous sympathies of youth 
have been turned against their brethren cf the same blood, as oppressors 
of the weak and ignorant African. 

To these teachings the pulpit adds its religious sanction. The utterance 
of anathemas from the minister clothes the sentiment with the solemnity 
of religious truth. Slavery is denounced as a sin, and the conscience is 
mislead to assume jurisdiction over Southern conduct. The press then 
advances with its thousand tongues, and nothing is heard but the contin- 



26 

uous cry of wrong, and the earnest. ajDpeal for means and votes to extin- 
guish that -wrong. And here, the party leader, -with his political craft 
and skill, intervenes, and gives direction to the one-sided energy which, 
without him, would soon exhaust itself. Thus we have every element of 
opinion and every power which operates on mind, brought into requisition 
to effect one result. That result is as certain as that effect follows cause : 
and that effect must remain permanent, for the reason that the causes are 
permanent and ever acting. * 

THE SOUTH STANDS IN TIFK UNION WITHOUT ANY PROTECTION FROM THE 

CONSTITUTION. 

We are In-ought, then, to this conclusion : The South stands in the 
Union without any protection from the Constitution, subject to the govern- 
ment of a sectional party who regard our institutions as sinful, and whose 
leaders already declare that the destruction of these institutions is only a 
question of time. The power of this party must increase from the con- 
tinued operation of the causes which have given them their present 
strength. Thus, with the forms of the Constitution around us, we are 
deprived of all the benefits to secure which the Union was formed. 

The preamble of that Constitution sets forth these objects in the follow- 
ing terms : 

'•We, the people of tlie United States, in order to form a more perCect union, estab- 
lish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the comttion defence, promote the 
general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to oui-selves and our posterity, do 
ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." 

Where is that more perfect union V The answer is given by the shout 
which hailed as a hero the murderer and the assassin. As the ancient 
Greeks had no name for the parricide, and imposed no punishment for an 
unknown crime — so the Fathers of the Constitution provided no means 
for repressing the unimagincd invasion of a sister State. Nay, they ac- 
tually disarmed each State, giving up to the federal government the army 
and navy, and making no provision for protection of a State from invasion 
by a neighboring State. This gave rise to the anomaly exhibited at Har- 
per's Ferry, in the laws of the federal government affording no aid to the 
government of Virginia to protect her from invasion. This more perfect 
union is more strikingly illustrated in the spactacle now exhibited in the 
array of one half the Union against the other, urged on (as one of the 
speakers at a meeting in Boston most truthfully declares) by a "religion 
of hate," which is ready "to break down all laws, human and divine." 



27 

But the Constitution was also made to establish justice. The establish- 
ment of justice is evinced in the protection and security of life and prop- 
erty. The blood that cries from the ground at Harper's Ferry is witness 
to the security of life ; and, doubtless, the spotted regions on Brown's map 
would, in due time, have added their solemn voices, but for the utter fail- 
ure in Virginia. And if these voices do not- convince, let the ease with 
which some of the confederates escaped through sister States into Canada 
add its testimony. Nay, more. Suppose jurisdiction of the crime had 
been surrendered to the federal government, and judgment had been de- 
layed until the 4th of 3Iarch next, how think you that the culprits would 
have fared with a Black Republican President intrusted with pardoning 
power ? 

And what protection has the Union afforded to the most valuable prop- 
erty of the South — that which was chiefly in view when the Constitution 
was made 'i "Thou shalt not steal," says the word of God. "Thou shalt 
not covet thy neighbor's slave," says the same authority. The Constitu- 
tion and the "higher law" were, therefore, in agreement when it recognized 
property in a slave, and stipulated to return him to his owner. But what 
is the condition of things in this union? Eight, at least, of the States, 
and, I am told, as many as sixteen, have enacted laws to defeat the ren- 
dition of the slave to his master ; and at this moment a controversy is 
pending in which even the transit of the slave with his master through a 
free State is declared unlawful. Associations are openly formed for the 
purpose of stealing and receiving the slave when stolen ; and in one State 
the owner reclaiming his slave does so on peril of an indictment for felony. 
The high priest of this new religion, occupying a high place in the gov- 
ernment, and a probable successor to the Presidency, announces to his fol- 
lowers that they must defend these fugitive slaves as they would their 
"household gods." 

And how does the Union insure domestic tranquillity ? Let the necessity 
under which this State now is to arm her people — let that necessity answer. 
Let the sounds of war which are yet resounding through the streets of this 
capital answer. Let the restless and uneasy feeling throughout the South 
answer. But against whom are we compelled to arm? Who are they that 
threaten us with coercion and violence? Is it they who are called our 
brethren — they who are our rulers — they who formed with us a Constitu- 
tion for common defence. They organize in their midst societies to destroy 
our peace, and to arm the slave against the master ; they preach a crusade 



28 

against our institutions; they train up their children to hate and distrust; 
they abuse to our destruction the power which the government has confided 
to then). We have surrendered to that government our arms and our 
fortresses— our army and our navy — our sword and our purse — and soon 
we may find, to our cost, that they are in the hands of an open enemy. 

Time does not permit the' further elucidation of this portion of our in- 
quiry. Enough, however, has been said to prove that we have a Union 
without a Constitution. The Union indeed stands, but it has ceased to 
efiiect for us at the South the great objects for which it was formed. It is 
but the carcase of its former self — the body without the soul. The bless- 
ings which it once conferred have departed — the glories which once sur- 
rounded it have been dimmed, and its burdens remain, pressing down upon 
the South without compensation. History is not without its illustrations 
upon this subject to teach us wisdom. Republics have, before ours, been 
enslaved under all the forms of free institutions. It was in the Roman 
Senate that Sylla sat while his soldiers were butchering the citizens of the 
republic. It was in the Roman Forum that Antony thrice offered unto 
Cassar the kingly crown, which in deference to the forms of the Constitu- 
tion, he thrice refused ; and it was in a vain effort to restore that Consti- 
tution that Brutus and his confederates put Caesar to death. Long after 
the extinction of all liberty, the edicts of the senate professed to be in the 
name of the Roman people, and the emperor himself exercised his absolute 
authority under the republican names of consul and imperator. 

Are we, then, to be misled in the same manner by deceptive appear- 
ances? Is it not clear to the Southern people, that when the North have 
banded themselves together, and are in possession of the government, 
the South has become a province of the North ? Are they not really in 
a worse condition than they were in 1775? Then, as now, a sectional 
line (wider indeed in extent, but not more so in eff"ect,) separated the 
rulers from their subjects ; then, as now, the government was in the hands 
of one section, the other having a choice only between submission and 
resistance. But now, the Southern colonies must bear these additional 
aggravations : 

DKGRADING CONDITIONS OF FUIITIIEK UNION BETWEEN THE NORTH AND THE 

SOUTH. 

1. Our rulers have been educated from childhood to denounce us and 
our institutions ; so that, instead of the kindly sympathy with which a 
government should respond to the feelings of those whom it governs, our 
government is our enemy. 



29 



•) 



That government being composed of a sectional party, it is the in- 
terest of its leaders to keep alive all the elements of sectional strife ; and 
the future, therefore, offers to us no prospect of relief. 

3. The immense patronage and spoils of the government, and the large 
interests involved in the public expenditures, and in discriminating tariffs, 
bring to the aid of the dominant party every selfish interest, and enable 
it to rivet its fetters upon the South ; while the hope held out to Southern 
aspirants for office is used to corrupt our leaders and confound our people. 

4. The Southern States are degraded from their position of equality by 
the open announcement that they shall have no further expansion ; while 
the North, flushed with victory, are seizing the whole territory of the 
Union, and give us plainly to understand that our institutions are already 
doomed, and merely await execution of the sentence, 

5. And, finally, we are graciously informed that the arrangements of 
Southern capital and labor do not please our masters ; and that an irre- 
pressible conflict has commenced, which must end in the overthrow of 
Southern civilization. 

Even the autocrat of Russia feels a sympathy with his Siberian serfs, 
and would never allow his government to be regarded as the instrument 
of their ruin. If we are to be provinces, better — a thousand times 
\,ctter — to have in our rulers, at least the prestige of an illustrious line of 
noble ancestry ; to be governed by nature's noblemen, instead of the scum 
which the surges of party roll up on its surface. 

But we are told that we are not in so hopeless a condition — that there 
are good men and true at the North who will break down this sectional 
tyranny— and we are referred to the meetings lately held in some of our 
Northern cities. I honor the magnanimity and courage of those noble 
spirits who have ventured to stem the torrent of prejudice and fanaticism. 
But their efforts have proved vain. They cannot fail to be vain because 
they give up the citadel to the enemy. Even the president of the Boston 
meeting declares that not an inch more is to be yielded to the extension of 
slavery. Every speaker, save one (and that one I honor for his patriotic 
firmness and sagacity— Mr. O'Conor of New York,) admits the justness 
of the Northern condemnation of slavery. This germ contains the logical 
sequences which the North have followed out into action. There can be 
no peace until they either change their opinions, or cease from taking any 
cognizance whatsoever of slavery. They must respect it as they would 
marriage, parential authority, or any other legitimate institution of a sister 
State; and, until our defenders take this position, they build upon the sands. 



30 

But why waste our time in surmise, wlieu realities are thrust openly 
before us 'i Can any one mistake the roaring of the storm at Washington '( 
Has the column of the Republican party there shown any sign of waver- 
ing 'i Was ever such a spectacle presented to this country before V There, 
are plainly exhibited the dire results of this array of sections — and there, 
in that conflict for the mastery, is foreshadowed that real conflict between 
the States to which we are soon to be summoned. 

Will you undertake that conflict singly, or shall we act in concert ? That 
is the great question which I am commissioned to ask. In 1847, and 
af^ain in 1849, your judgment pronounced in favor of "concerted action." 
We have adopted your judgment — and we come now to propose the con- 
ference. From the federal government, as it stands, we can expect noth- 
ing. From the Northern States we have been repelled with denunciation. 
Our only resource, then, is in ourselves; and among ourselves union is 
strength. 

A SOUTHERN CONFERENCE DEMANDED BY THE EXIGENCIES OF THE TIMES. 

The great and leading argument in favor of a conference is, that it is 
the proper step in any contingency. It is a measure which will preserve 
the Union, if it can constitutionally be preserved; and, if it cannot, it is 
the proper preparatory step for Southern defence. Those who desire the 
maintenance of the Union must perceive that nothing is more likely to 
drive back the aggressions of the North, and to restore to us our rights, 
than the exhibition of a united and determined purpose of resistance. 
And those who believe that the Union cannot be preserved, will equally 
perceive that a Southern conference is a necessary step to effective Southern 
defence. This measure ought, therefore, to unite all parties, excepting 
alone that (if there be any such) which favors unconditional submission. 

And what shall be the advice which may reasonably be expected from 
such a conference ? Certainly they will require a restoration of the Con- 
stitution and the perfect equality of the Southern States. Could any 
measure be more likely to effect this result than the united demand of the 
whole South 'I Say to the North, ' 'Repeal at once all your enactments 
against the just rendition of our slaves ; break up your underground rail 
roads ; perform toward us your constitutional obligations ; and restore to 
us all those rights which the comity of nations as well as the Federal 
Constitution guarantee to us. We insist that nations, bound to each 
other as we are, cannot agitate and form societies to impair the institutions 
recognized by the laws of either ; and we demand the immediate suppres- 



somewhat after the plan established in the conventions of tlie Episcopal 
church in America. This plan has the advantage of actual existence in 
our midst. 

The Governor of this State has proposed that a convention of the United 
States should be called to determine whether amendments may not be made 
to the Constitution to save the Union; and, if they cannot, then that 
such division be made of the government property as would tend to a 
peaceful and just arrangement. Such a measure would most naturally 
and properly be preceded by a Southern conference, to agree beforehand 
upon such amendments as should be proposed, and such demands as should 
be made by the South. If such a body should ever meet, it would be 
indeed unfortunate for the South to enter it with divided counsels. 

Unquestionably, the South is entitled to demand, as already stated, an 
equal share of the territory of the Union, and the repeal of all laws ob- 
structing the return of fugitive slaves ; and it would seem to be equally 
unquestionable that she has a right to demand the disbanding of every 
society which is agitating the Northern mind against Southern institutions. 
These, with a surrender of the power to amend the Constitution of the 
United States in regard to slavery, would be proper subjects for the con- 
sideration of a Southern conference, and would all come within the pur- 
view of the measure recommended by his excellency. If any of them 
should be demanded of the proposed convention of the United States, 
they would at least serve to test the sincerity of the professions of Northern 
Unionists. 

On the other hand, those who believe in the efficiency of measures of 
restriction and commercial independence must perceive that such measures 
would be far more effective if taken in concert. What benefit would result 
from non-importation into Richmond and Norfolk, if Edenton and New- 
bern and Beaufort received Northern goods as before ? And what good 
efiect would restrictions at Charleston serve, if Savannah should decline 
concurrence ? The commercial independence of the South is certainly an 
object greatly to be desired. Is it possible to advance it more effectually 
than by the concerted action of the whole South ? 

And if a conference should do no more than to turn the eyes of the 
South from presidential elections and federal office, and stir up our lead- 
ing men to seek position at the South, and to advance and develop the 
resources of our own country, we shall have made a great advance toward 
the solution of our difficulties. And, finally, if the worst must come, and 



31 

sion of such societies, and the return of tranquillity to our borders. If 
we are to remain united, we must no longer have our property stolen from 
us, and the thieves and stolen property protected by your laws; neither 
will we hear ourselves denounced as criminals and evil-doers while obey- 
ing our own laws." Surely the South may unite in declaring anew her 
bill of rights ; and it is not yet treasonable to add that she must have 
equality in the Union, or she will seek independence out of it. 

It is obvious to every one, that if it be possible to procure these demands, 
and to remain in the Union, the united voice of the whole South is the 
only likely mode of effecting it; and if there be a more forbearing party 
still, who desire to try in the Union measures of retaliation and non-inter- 
course, or others who hope to prevail upon the North to give us new guar- 
antees by amendments of the Constitution of the United States, a conference 
of the South offers the best mode of carrying out their pLins. The wisest 
and best men of the South will be brought together to consider them, and 
the wisest and best measures may reasonably be expected. 

I would be wanting in the frankness and candor due to this august assem- 
blage, if I did not plainly declare the opinions which we entertain in South 
Carolina. We have no confidence in any j^aper guarantees — neither do 
we believe that any measures of restriction or retaliation within the present 
Union will avail. But, with equal frankness we declare, that when 
we propose a conference, we do so with the full understanding that Ave are 
but one of the States in that conference, entitled like all the others to 
express our opinions, but willing to respect and abide by the united judg- 
ment of the whole. If our pace be too fast for some, we are content to 
walk slower ; our earnest wish is that all may keep together. We cannot 
consent to stand still, but would gladly make common cause with all. We 
are far from expecting or desiring to dictate or lead. 

There are, indeed, material guarantees which Southern statesmen have 
proposed, and which, if added to the Constitution, might restore to the 
South its equality in the Union. Among these may be mentioned Mr. 
Calhoun's suggestion of a dual executive ; and although attempts have 
been made to detract from this suggestion as impracticable, it may be 
answered that the Roman republic, with its two consuls, so far from prov- 
ing an impracticable government, lasted five hundred years, and under this 
dual executive conquered the world. 

Another suggestion has been offered, of dividing the Senate into two 
sectional classes, and requiring a concurrence upon all sectional questions 



Mr. Speaker and gentlemen : I have done. I have executed my com- 
mission. I have discharged, as faithfully as I can, the high trust confided 
to me by South Carolina. I have delivered into the keeping of Virginia 
the cause of the South. You, who occupy the seats of Washington and of 
Henry, cannot decide this as an ordinary question of legislative duty. In 
your keeping is the glory of those noble spirits who have consecrated the 
soil upon which we stand. You cannot, you will not dim the lustre which 
surrounds this capitol, by extinguishing any of the lights which they have 
kindled ; and may that God, whose blessing we invoked at the beginning, 
on this deliberation, now attend you to the end, and guide j'ou to such a 
conclusion as will secure the welfare and happiness of our Southern country 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



011 895 749 

we must take our destinies into our own hands, a Sovithern conference is 
the necessary step to such arrangements as are requisite to take our phice 
among the nations of the earth. 

It is this Last consideration that di.'ubtless retards many from yielding to 
it their support. Such a meeting, In 1775, led to the Revolution; and 
it is objected that the meeting of 1860 may lead to the same result. To 
this objection I answer that a similar meeting in 1765 led to the repeal of 
the Stamp Act ; and if the mother country had acted with justice and mod- 
eration, they might have preserved to this day their union with the colonies. 
The meeting of 1775 led to revolution, because tyranny and oppression 
could no longer be borne, and they only can object to this result who will 
maintain that the Revolution was wrong, and that America should have 
iTOuched beneath the paw of the British lion. So, also, now, if just and 
moderate counsels shall prevail over fanaticism and tyranny — if the North 
shall follow the wise and sagacious advice of Pitt and Camden, then the 
same results will follow as in 1765. But if they move forward to their 
unholy purposes with the rancorous blindness of Loixl North and his 
associates, then the precedent of 1775 is the fitting example for tlie South ; 
and the same catastrophe will be the fitting end of the drama. If such 
a result were right then, it would be right now; and if it be certain that 
the North will insist upon ruling us as subjects, when they have extin- 
guished our constitutional guarantees, and refused our equal rights, then, 
it is true, we should at once seek our Washington to guide us through the 
new conflict that awaits us. 

Unquestionably there is risk ; but that risk is from the perseverance of 
our enemies in wrong. If they will do right, all will be well. Must we 
then accept the alternative of unconditional submission, because there is 
risk of revolution ? Was there ever a prize to be attained without risk ? 
It is the law of God, that everything valuable must be attained by effort. 
•'In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread ;" and this sentence is 
inwrought in all human possessions. Free institutions are among the most 
valuable of these, and they can only bo maintained by constant and untir- 
ing effort. 

•Oh, Freedom ! tliou art not, as poets dream, 
.\. fair young girl, "with light ;iud delicsite limb?. 
And -wavy tresses gushing from her cap. 

"A bearded man. 
Armed to the teeth, art thou ; one muiled hand 
Grasps the broad .shield, and one the sword ;" 

'•Thy brow, , 

(xlorious^in beauty though it be, is scarred /' 

With tokens of old -war." / 



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